It is an old wives’ tale that damp weather can worsen your aches and pains – but it appears that it might actually be true.

The early findings of a large-scale study show that people reported less time in severe pain as the weather warmed from February to April.

Researchers at the University of Manchester enlisted 9,000 people suffering chronic pain – such as arthritis, back problems and migraines – who then logged their symptoms every day via a smartphone app.

Early data found that as the number of sunny days increased from February to April, the amount of time spent in severe pain decreased. But pain levels increased again in June when the weather was wetter and there were fewer hours of sunshine.

The so-called weather pain forecast was recorded by people in three UK cities, Leeds, Norwich and London.

The project leader, Prof Will Dixon, a rheumatologist and professor of digital epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said: “We have long heard anecdotal evidence about how people with chronic conditions say they suffer more when the weather is bad – a lot of my patients tell me that they can predict the weather based on how they are feeling.

“But amazingly there has never really been any real research into it – even though around 28 million people in the UK suffer from some form of chronic pain. Our early results have been encouraging so far ... and I think there is definitely a possible link.”

However, Dixon said the early findings contradicted another well-worn hypothesis, “that really common belief … that joints get worse if it’s cold. Actually, the pain got worse [again] from April to June, and that was the one time when the temperature really went up. So it doesn’t fit with that really common hypothesis.”

Dixon and his colleagues were still seeking more participants, and will be collecting data until April 2017.